The new website Ok.com fuses social media with advanced technology to provide parents with unique data and customizable options to aid in making informed decisions about which movies their families watch.

For example, Ebbert — a 33-year-old entrepreneur in Knoxville, Tenn. — recently cancelled his cable television, opting instead to wirelessly stream the Hulu Plus and Amazon Video services onto his television through an Xbox. It's a tech-savvy move made with one eye on his bottom line: by leveraging existing infrastructure like a WiFi connection and gaming console, Ebbert now watches his preferred programming for a fraction of the cost of cable.

But for all his media know-how Ebbert still stumbles when it comes to deciding which movies are age-appropriate for Summar, his 9-year-old daughter and the oldest of his five children.

"I'll let her watch whatever G-rated movie she wants to, but I just can't trust the PG rating," he said. "There's a lot of suggestive content in some of those PG movies — jokes meant to make adults laugh that are usually sexual in nature. And I don't appreciate that."

Ebbert ruefully recalls the time he watched "Hop" with his family. Rated PG, the 2011 film's protagonist is an animated rabbit that comes to real-life Hollywood. And along the way, the cute cartoon bunny makes his way to the Playboy Mansion.

"(The rabbit) goes to the Playboy Mansion and he's talking to Hugh Hefner via a telecom outside the gate," Ebbert said. "And they're saying all these sexually suggestive things. It’s meant to be very funny and very cute for adults, and the kids are supposed to just be ignorant and wonder what that means. But it’s very inappropriate."

Families like Ebbert's can struggle to find the information they need to make good decisions about what movies to watch. Ebbert wants to be pointed to the best movies that are safe for Summar to watch. Several websites are trying to fill that void, such as Common Sense Media, Parents Television Council and OK.com — a new tool that uses technology to generate customized recommendations for any moviegoer's tastes.

Sentinels standing guard

Market forces contribute to conscientious parents like Ebbert seeking help for making age-appropriate movie choices because, in contemporary culture, family-friendly movies are more the exception than the rule. From 1995 to 2011, for example, Hollywood unleashed more than 3,400 R-rated films — compared to a relatively paltry 1,170 movies that netted a rating of either G or PG. (This curious disparity blossomed in spite of the fact that, on average, a film rated G or PG grosses roughly 275 percent of the money that the average R-rated movie earns.)

A cadre of non-profit advocacy groups aims to arm families with the necessary data for making informed choices about movies and other media. San Francisco-based Common Sense Media's mission statement affirms the organization "is dedicated to improving the lives of kids and families by providing the trustworthy information, education and independent voice they need to thrive in a world of media and technology." Similarly, the primary mission of the Parents Television Council — which is headquartered in Los Angeles — "is to promote and restore responsibility and decency to the entertainment industry in answer to America's demand for positive, family-oriented television programming."

“For a long time theaters have been the main focus of movie reviews and ratings,” Johnson said. “But what we’ve found is that there are many movies that are family-oriented that aren’t necessarily big in theaters, but are huge on DVD and streaming — like ‘The Pirates! Band of Misfits’ movie.

Popular Comments

OK.com allows viewer input? Good. Just because MPAA says "PG"
doesn't mean a movie is suitable. The more reliable input, the better.

5:37 p.m. Sept. 17, 2012

Top comment

Hutterite

American Fork, UT

I'm tired of nanny groups who want to be offended so they can carp about
it. Turn off the tv, and stay away from the movies if that's what it takes.
I don't want everything made so banal and watery that it's suitable
for a ten
More..

5:50 p.m. Sept. 17, 2012

Top comment

InspectorC

Wasatch Front, UT

@ Hutterite (5:50 pm):

This article doesn't threaten you; so
just take a deep breath! 8^)

All it's talking about is
providing resources to parents of children and interested persons to help them
decide if various
More..